Instant Insight Into People, And Language

I have this thing where the moment I see people I know a lot of things about them. Basically things like their attitude towards life, general
personality, inner motivations, etc. I think I've always somewhat had this ability, but I think it's been developing more and more over time. This
is basically always working for me, so it's almost like it doesn't even seem like anything unusual to me. It's only when discussing it with people
that it becomes apparent that most people don't notice these things. Sometimes I get such incredibly deep insight into people I have never even met,
it's as if I was their best friend or something. Sometimes it's almost like I know more about their inner depths then they themselves are
consciously aware of, or at least admit. Obviously I am not always able to confirm these things, but literally every time I'm ever able to confirm
whether I was right, one way or another, I'm always right.

To me, this is related to another 'ability' I have, which is basically where I'm able to tell very precisely what people mean when they say things,
whether in person or even in text. I notice all these subtle things about language, or body language, things like that, that allows me to get a lot of
insight into what people mean when they say things, and the motivation behind it; this also allows me to utilize all of these things, so that I can
use language to convey the exact meaning that I would like when I say things. It's likely that people aren't even able to consciously tell the
subtleties in my usage of language, but I believe that these subtle things affect their interpretation of my words at a subconscious level. I found a
certain Terence McKenna quote to be fascinating, in light of this. He said, "To my mind, telepathy does not mean hearing what other people are
thinking. It means knowing what they mean."

Language and words are seen to have a lot more power than was first thought. Words are like keys that unlock the truth. All the words have always
been there, and little sayings too. Phrases heard long ago now open up and become full.
Words didn't used to mean very much but now i hear.

I'd suggest you’re empathic. I'm very similar; apparently i got it from my mother. We both seem to be able to 'know' someone as soon as we meet
them. Interestingly me and my mam have never disagreed about a person. I'm very quick to understand what people are trying to say as opposed to what
they end up saying, which helps a lot in resolving arguements

Others in the family tend to pay attention to whether we like someone or not
because for them it has become a proven method of avoiding making friends with people who screw will them over, sooner rather than later.

I tend to keep this to family and close friends though, a lot of people do not like the fact that you can see through their masks and will alienate
you for it.

I often think of this as a highly developed "antenna". We all have the ability to be empathic, and it seems to me that we develop that sensitivity
more or less, depending upon our life experiences...

I have found that people who have it highly developed often had childhoods in which they felt either in danger, or with the responsibility of
protecting someone else (or both). For example, having a parent who was violent, alcoholic, depressed, ...or with a disease such as diabetes,
epilepsy.

These types of situations force the child to develop the ability to read deeper into what is going on in peoples head and in their body, to be able to
determine their state of being at any time and predict dangerous behavior or crises.

I have actually met or known quite a few, and their abilities often can go into being psychic in nature if they continue with activities in which they
use this regularly. It can also be a sort of handicap, if they do not learn how to master it and filter it as adults- some end up being agoraphobic,
because they are unable to "turn down" the antenna and get a stimulation overload with many people around.

I have no idea if this can be de-sensitized with time. I have heard some claim that it is possible, with less usage of the skill, but so far in those
cases, they were people who also lived their lives pulled awar from society (in the country, isolated...) so I remained sceptical of whether it was
actually that they became less sensitive, or that they just removed themselves from the presence of others!

I can relate to much of what you describe of your experience. But my question would be what now? Have you thought about how to apply this ability to
help others and continue growing? I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

I can kind of do this but to a lesser degree, whenever i meet someone in person, the minute i shake hands with them i know whether or not they are
generally a good person or not, its never failed me, i'll meet someone and know they are a bad person then if for some reason i keep in contact with
them i find out later that they are.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.